A few seconds later, Dawson appears on the landing below.
His eyes widen when he notices me waiting by the door to the hallway. Can’t exactly avoid me.
“Logan. What’s up?” He glances back the way he came. “I’m trying to avoid any reporters.”
When I don’t answer, he frowns and jogs up the final few stairs.
I back him into the corner. “We need to chat.”
Misery seems to wash over him and he glances down at his boots. “Shit. Glenna was involved, wasn’t she?”
He sure arrived at that conclusion fast. “You knew?”
“I suspected her involvement. After Shelby was already here. When Glenna called me earlier.” He pauses and stares straight ahead. “Something she said didn’t sit right. Story hadn’t fully broken yet, but she somehow had details even I didn’t have.”
“You motherfucker. Why didn’t you say something?”
“What was I going to say?” He waves his hands in the air. “You were gone. I didn’t want to tell Greg my suspicions. How was that gonna help anyone?”
“You talk to Jackson?”
“That FBI prick? Fuck no.”
“So what were you planning to do? Keep quiet and let your girl get away with it?”
“I didn’t know for sure.” He presses his fist to his stomach. “It was a gut feeling. I wanted to talk it over with you.”
“Right.” My tone conveys how much I believe that story. “Not like you have my number or anything.”
Some of the rugged country boy persona he’s known for seeps into his hard expression. “Didn’t think you’d want to discuss it over the phone with the FBI monitoring your every move. Come on, now. I know you MC boys better than that.”
Even when I was a boy, I never cared for anyone calling me one. “Careful, Dawson. Me and my MC boys don’t give a fuck who you are.”
Dawson doesn’t flinch. I don’t elaborate on my threat. Don’t have to.
“I have friends in a few clubs,” he says, testing the waters.
“That right?” He’s smart enough not to go dropping names, so maybe he does have a few club connections. Doesn’t really make a difference to me.
“Ah, fuck.” He waves his hand between us. “You know I respect Shelby a hell of a lot. I’m fucking furious about what happened to her.”
He did cooperate with the cops. Fuck knows, he could’ve told Jackson to stuff it, hopped on his tour bus and headed out of Virginia without Shelby. Instead, he’s canceled a bunch of dates, which has to be costing him a fortune.
“Knowing I’m somehow responsible?” he continues. “That’s not sitting well with me, Logan. Shit, you have any idea how many women I’ve been through? None of them ever pulled a stunt like this.”
“Guess you’re a real heartbreaker.”
He huffs out an annoyed breath. “If anyone’s heart was broken it was mine. First, when she fucked my best friend. And again, discovering she had a hand in Shelby’s kidnapping.”
“Your heart really isn’t my concern, Dawson.”
“We were together a long damn time. I never…thought she was capable of something like this. I don’t know what the hell was going through her mind. Whether she thought he’d really nab Shelby or it was some sick game.”
His phone buzzes and he checks the screen. “Speak of the she-devil.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. “Answer it.”
“I—” He opens his mouth as if to argue with me, then shakes his head and accepts the call. “What do you want?” he snaps.
Dawson holds it up between us so I can hear their conversation. Something I didn’t ask him to do. The action alleviates any lingering suspicions of his involvement.
“Why so testy?” a soft, seductive voice purrs out of the phone. “What’s the—”
“Glenna.” His gruff tone cuts her off. “I’m gonna ask you somethin’ and I need you to be straight with me.”
“What’s that, baby?”
He rolls his eyes. “You have something to do with Shelby’s kidnapping?”
Nothing like going straight for it, Dawson.
“Now, why would you ask me such a question?” Her outraged voice has a tinny fakeness to it. “I don’t even know your new plaything.”
“Jesus Christ, how many times do I need to explain this? I’m not beddin’ her. Never was. She’s my opening act. That’s it. I would’ve been on tour with you this summer—just like the last two years—if you hadn’t been screwin’ Tucker behind my back.”
“I told you that was a lapse in judgment.”
“And I told you, I don’t give a fuck. You’re both dead to me. Time to let go and move on, darlin’.”
He uses the word darlin’ just about as sarcastically as any biker’s ever used it. I smother a laugh.
“Now, answer me,” Dawson continues in a cold, business-like tone, “were you involved?”
“How could I be involved?” she answers coyly. “I don’t know Martin Suggs.”
My eyes widen. As far as I know, no one’s reported Martin’s name yet. He’s still an “unknown suspect.”
Dawson meets my eyes and raises an eyebrow. I nod.
“Right,” Dawson says slowly. “I notice you haven’t even asked if Shelby’s okay.”
“Why should I care? She’s nothing to me.”
Dawson winces. Yeah, I’d be embarrassed too if I’d been in love with such a cold-hearted bitch. I’ve never hurt a woman, but I hope to fuck I never run into this one. It’d be awfully tempting to rip out her fucking throat.
She blows out a long, dramatic breath. “Fine, how is the little girl? I hope nothing bad happened to her,” she says with all the sincerity of a B-list actress.
Dawson glances at me again and I shake my head.
“Don’t know yet,” he answers.
“What’s wrong?” A little more concern creeps into Glenna’s tone.
“Doctors won’t tell me. I’ll talk to her boyfriend later and find out.”
“She has a boyfriend?”
“Yeah, darlin’. Big biker guy. Pretty sure his club has a charter not too far from Nashville.”
“Don’t you threaten me, Dawson.” Her shrill tone echoes in the stairwell.
“Who’s threatening?” Dawson’s response is smooth as butter. “Just making a lil’ conversation.”
“You tell anyone I was involved, I’ll bury you and Shelby in the press. Every last seat on your pathetic tour will be empty.”
“My, my,” he drawls. “Seems like an overreaction for someone who claims to be innocent.”
“I took the blame for the Tucker incident because I felt bad. But I could just as easily share the ‘real’ scoop—that you and Shelby were screwing around behind my back first.”
“That’s gonna be a little hard to prove since I hadn’t even met Shelby when we split, Glenna.”
“Does the truth matter? People believe what they want to believe. I can be convincing.”